Outdoor electrical outlets are commonly used to provide electrical service near gardens, swimming pools, patios and the like. They are also used to provide a weatherproof enclosure for mounting thermostats, timers for watering systems, and switches outdoors. These outdoor enclosures are commonly referred to in the industry as FS or field service boxes.
Presently, the most popular form of Field Service (FS) box requires that the installer purchase special mounting plates, manufactured specifically for that particular box, to configure the enclosure for the particular type of electrical service that is required. As many as approximately 50 different plates must be manufactured to provide for all the different types of electrical service that may be required in typical outdoor wiring applications. The requirement to purchase a special plate increases the expense of the device and also requires the electrical distributor to increase inventory in order to stock all these special plates.
The first advantage of this box is that it is designed to provide the same functionality of FS boxes but with only 4 different configurations to accommodate all the various common outdoor electrical applications. The second advantage is that special mounting plates are not required. Standard face plates as are provided in any electrical supply store may be used with the FS box of this invention.